Tag Archives: Mayor Elorza

Rubbers meets the Rhode

Posted on April 19, 2019 by

Senate President Dominick “Rubbers” Ruggerio has introduced legislation in Rhode Island’s General Assembly to bar cities and towns from bothering the developers who want to screw this state’s localities and their citizens. Ruggerio was dumbfounded by the meanies of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Final say on Fane design?

Posted on April 10, 2019 by

Fane tower supporters left Monday night’s meeting in full glum after the city’s design panel recommended against approving three of four Fane requests for exemptions from zoning that could kill the project. Opponents left in full euphoria, in the belief … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Fane theater of the absurd

Posted on March 12, 2019 by

Monday afternoon’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee was the city’s first official look, in a public setting, at the design of Jason Fane’s proposed luxury condo tower. The meeting was pure theater of the absurd. It was as … Continue reading →

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The path now against Fane

Posted on December 14, 2018 by

The Providence City Council has overridden Mayor Elorza’s brave veto of a bill to allow developer Jason Fane to proceed with a tower that plainly violates city zoning law. The building would no longer violate the height limit for Parcel … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Politics of the Fane override

Posted on December 12, 2018 by

When a pro-Fane tower councilman called in sick for Tuesday’s vote on whether to override Mayor Elorza’s brave veto of the Fane tower legislation, the council postponed the vote until tomorrow, Thursday, Dec. 13. Having spouted my opposition to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Mayor Elorza’s brave veto

Posted on November 30, 2018 by

To the surprise of most observers, Mayor Elorza vetoed the Providence City Council’s approval last week of legislation to raise by a factor of six the 100-foot height limit on Parcel 42 of the Route 195 corridor. That legislation, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence Journal | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Lovely Rita, meter maid!

Posted on September 18, 2016 by

Parking meters on blocks of shops in Providence are not only purging business. It seems as if lovely Rita the Meter Maid may be going the way of the Dodo. I hope not. Friday I drove downtown to shoot the … Continue reading →

Posted in Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The 4th w/out the Overture

Posted on July 8, 2016 by

I am still suffering from Tchaikovsky’s Retreat from Providence. Last year the Rhode Island Philharmonic gave a bravura performance of “The 1812 Overture” for the city’s Fourth of July celebration at India Point Park. Not this year. I have no … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Roses and raspberries, 2015

Posted on January 4, 2016 by

If the objective were to build beauty, the past year has served Providence poorly. Since the fault is mainly in the office of the new governor, Gina Raimondo, Providence’s mayor, Jorge Elorza, can be absolved of some of the blame, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Art and design, Blast from past, Development, Preservation, Providence, Providence Journal, Rhode Island, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Better lights for Providence

Posted on February 6, 2015 by

Not long after starting to write about architecture in 1990 I would occasionally hector the city fathers in Providence to use sodium vapor bulbs in downtown’s historic lamps, as was and still is done on Benefit Street. That, I thought, … Continue reading →

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